Method of controlling mobile terminal

ABSTRACT

A method of controlling a mobile terminal, for diagnosing a home appliance using the mobile terminal is disclosed. The method includes a menu display step of displaying a diagnosis menu for diagnosis of a home appliance on a display, an information receiving step of receiving information about a current state of the home appliance or presence of a problem as an audio signal when the diagnosis menu is selected, the information being diagnosed by the home appliance, a result display step of displaying a diagnosis result of the home appliance on the display, the diagnosis result being obtained based on the information received in the information receiving step, and a solution display step of displaying a solution based on the diagnosis result to suggest a measure to be taken by a user to the user.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application No.61/583,626 filed on Jan. 6, 2012, which is hereby incorporated byreference as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method of controlling a mobileterminal, and more particularly to a method of controlling a mobileterminal, for diagnosing a home appliance using the mobile terminal.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

In general, products such as washing machines, dryers, refrigerators,and ovens are closely connected to user convenience. It is veryimportant in modern life to normally use such home appliances. This isbecause a user may experience some inconvenience when the user cannotuse home appliances in case of necessity.

When a home appliance malfunctions, it is impossible to normally use thehome appliance. Here, it is not important whether the malfunction of thehome appliance is caused by product problems or user error. In general,users are aware of the use of the home appliance only and are not awareof a method of overcoming problems when the home appliance malfunctions.

In many cases, when a home appliance malfunctions, a user contacts aservice center and explains the malfunction. Then, the service centerdetermines whether the home appliance needs not to be repaired due touser error or the home appliance needs to be repaired, based on theexplained issue.

It is too cumbersome to contact the service center whenever the homeappliance malfunctions. In addition, it is not easy to identify themalfunction of the home appliance and to determine appropriate measuresto resolve the issue, based on the user's explanation.

For example, even if the service center determines that the malfunctionis caused simply by component error and sends a repair technician to aplace where the home appliance is installed in order to replace thecomponent, the repair technician can determine that basic repair needsto be performed on the home appliance after arriving at the place. Inthis case, it can take a long time to repair the home appliance, whichmeans that a period of time when the user cannot use the home applianceis increased.

In addition, even if the service center determines that the malfunctionis caused by product problems and sends the repair technician to theplace, the repair technician can determine that the malfunction iscaused simply by user error, but not by the product problems. In manycases, the malfunction is determined to be caused simply by the usererror, for example, a power plug is not put into a socket or a faucetfor water supply is turned off in the case of a washing machine. As inthe above case, a period of time when the user cannot use the homeappliance is also increased. In addition, needless time and effort canbe wasted.

Accordingly, there is a need to correctly determine the cause ofmalfunction of a home appliance and to take appropriate measures basedon the determined cause.

That is, there is a need to minimize the number of user reports onmalfunction of home appliances to a service center and to minimize thenumber of unnecessary customer services at the service center.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method ofcontrolling a mobile terminal that substantially obviates one or moreproblems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of controllinga mobile terminal, for easily diagnosing a home appliance through themobile terminal. In addition, the present invention provides a mobileterminal for diagnosis of the home appliance.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminaland a method of controlling the same, which may easily diagnose the homeappliance even if a communication module is not installed in the homeappliance.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminaland a method of controlling the same, which may diagnose a homeappliance using an audio signal and may provide a diagnostic methodensuring reliability and accuracy of the audio signal.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a mobileterminal and a method of controlling the same, which may providedifferent solutions when a user can or cannot take a measure a problemof a home appliance to provide a convenient diagnosis method.

Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will beset forth in part in the description which follows and in part willbecome apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art uponexamination of the following or may be learned from practice of theinvention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may berealized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in thewritten description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with thepurpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, amethod of controlling a mobile terminal includes a menu display step ofdisplaying a diagnosis menu for diagnosis of a home appliance on adisplay, an information receiving step of receiving information about acurrent state of the home appliance or presence of a problem as an audiosignal when the diagnosis menu is selected, the information beingdiagnosed by the home appliance, a result display step of displaying adiagnosis result of the home appliance on the display, the diagnosisresult being obtained based on the information received in theinformation receiving step, and a solution display step of displaying asolution based on the diagnosis result to suggest a measure to be takenby a user to the user.

The information receiving step may include an execution menu displaystep of displaying an execution menu for performance of the informationreceiving step. When the execution menu is input, the mobile terminalmay receive and store the audio signal.

The information receiving step may include a step of displayingprogresses and progress states of the information receiving step whenthe execution menu is selected. Thus, the user may easily recognize adegree by which the information receiving step proceeds.

The information receiving step may include a guide display step ofinforming the user of whether an intensity of the audio signal is withinan appropriate band to a user, thereby ensuring accuracy and reliabilityof the received audio signal.

The guide display step may include displaying a guide line as areference of the appropriate band and visibly displaying an amplitude ofthe audio signal on the guide line.

The guide line may include a reference line and bandwidth linesrespectively displayed above and below the reference line and indicatinga minimum allowable amplitude.

The user may reduce trial and error by using the guide display step andthe guide line. That is, the mobile terminal may receive and store theaudio signal having an appropriate band via minimized trials.

The result display step may be performed when the information receivestep is successfully performed, and a retry menu for retrying theinformation receiving step may be displayed when the result display stepfails.

The information received in the information receiving step may becompared with reference information in a database (DB) of the mobileterminal or an external DB to extract the diagnosis result, and thediagnosis result may be displayed in the result display step.

The result display step and the solution display step may be performedon different display regions of the same display. Thus, the user cancheck error information and solutions for the error information via asingle display, thereby improving user convenience.

The solution display step may include displaying a contact number of aservice center regardless of the diagnosis result.

The solution display step may include separately displaying a problem tobe addressed by the user and a problem not to be addressed by the userwhen the home appliance has problems as the diagnosis result.

The method may further include displaying a menu for selecting a problemfrom among a plurality of problems of the home appliance as thediagnosis result, and displaying a solution corresponding to a menucorresponding to the selected problem when the menu is selected.

The method may further include simultaneously displaying a measure to betaken by the user and a contact number of a service center when theproblem is to be addressed by the user, and displaying the contactnumber of the service center when the problem is not to be addressed bythe user.

The menu display step may further include a mode selection step ofselecting a mode in which the information is received.

The information receiving mode may include a wireless diagnosis mode inwhich the information is received as a digital signal from the homeappliance through a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) communication module, andan audio diagnosis mode in which the information is received as an audiosignal through a microphone.

The information receiving step may include receiving information about acurrent state of the home appliance or presence of a problem, as adigital signal, when the wireless diagnosis mode is selected, theinformation being diagnosed by the home appliance.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method of controlling amobile terminal includes a mode display step of displaying a diagnosismode on a display so as to allow a user to select whether informationabout a current state of the home appliance or presence of a problem isreceived as an audio signal or a digital signal, the information beingdiagnosed by the home appliance, an information receiving step ofreceiving the information as the audio signal or the digital signalaccording to a diagnosis mode when the diagnosis mode is selected, aresult display step of displaying a diagnosis result of the homeappliance based on the information received in the information receivingstep, on the display, and a solution display step of displaying asolution based on the diagnosis result to suggest a measure to be takenby a user to the user.

The diagnosis mode may include a wireless diagnosis mode in which theinformation is received as a digital signal from the home appliancethrough a wireless communication module, and an audio diagnosis mode inwhich the information is received as an audio signal through amicrophone.

The method may further include the mobile terminal commanding the homeappliance to transmit the digital signal to the mobile terminal when thewireless diagnosis mode is selected.

In accordance with the present invention, the above and other objectscan be accomplished by the provision of a recording medium for storingthe control method of the mobile terminal. The control method may beprovided in the form of application installable in the mobile terminal.Thus, the user may down and install the application via variousapplication markets.

The features of the above-embodiments are embodied in combinationsotherwise being mutually exclusive. Thus, advantages extracted from thefeatures may be obtained in combinations.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description of the present invention areexemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide furtherexplanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention andtogether with the description serve to explain the principle of theinvention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a home appliance that isapplicable to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a mobile terminal that isapplicable to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method of controlling a mobile terminalaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display of a mobile terminalon which a diagnosis menu for diagnosis of a home appliance isdisplayed;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a display on which a diagnosismode is displayed;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a display on which anexecution mode for receipt of information and an information receivingstate are displayed;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a display on which aninformation receiving progress state is displayed;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a display on which informationreception failure and a retry menu are displayed;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a display on which a diagnosisresult corresponding to a normal state is displayed;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display on which adiagnosis result corresponding to a problem which a user cannot addressis displayed;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a display on which adiagnosis result corresponding to two problems is displayed;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a display on which adiagnosis result corresponding to four problems is displayed;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a display on which anexecution state of a wireless diagnosis mode is displayed; and

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a display on which failure ofa wireless diagnosis mode and a retry menu are displayed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be usedthroughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

Throughout the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, examplesof a home appliance to be diagnosed may include a washing machine, adryer, a refrigerator, an oven, a water purifier, an air conditioner,and a cleaner. Of course, the home appliance is not limited thereto andthe present invention can be applied to various other home appliances.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a home appliance 10 to bediagnosed, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The home appliance 10 may include a controller 20 for controllingdriving of the home appliance 10, an interface unit 40 for a userinterface, and a driver 60 for a unique operation of the home appliance10.

In the case of the washing machine, the driver 60 may include a motorfor driving a drum, a feed valve for water supply, various sensors, andthe like. In the case of the refrigerator, the driver 60 may include acompressor for compressing a refrigerant, a fan for fanning cool air, afeed value of an icemaker, various sensors, and the like.

Accordingly, the controller 20 controls an operation of the driver 60according to information input by a user through the interface unit 40so as to perform the unique operation of the home appliance 10.

If necessary, the home appliance 10 may include a communication module30. The communication module 30 may be used for communication withexternal objects. The communication module 30 is a wired or wirelesscommunication module but preferably is a wireless communication modulein order to improve user convenience and accessibility.

Examples of the wireless communication module may include variouscommunication modules such as a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) communicationmodule, a ZIPBee communication module, and a Bluetooth communicationmodule. However, preferably, the wireless communication module is theWi-Fi communication module in consideration of an environment forcommunication with external devices, a communication environment athome, and an environment for communication with a mobile device.

Basically, in order to diagnose the home appliance 10, the homeappliance 10 needs to generate information (hereinafter, referred to as“diagnosis information”) about a current state or the presence of aproblem. In other words, the home appliance 10 needs to generate thediagnosis information. In addition, the diagnosis information mayinclude a plurality of error information as well as error informationabout one error. Of course, in order to generate the diagnosisinformation, a command or input for the generation of the diagnosisinformation needs to be applied to the home appliance 10.

The command for the generation of the diagnosis information may beapplied through the communication module 30. In other words, the homeappliance 10 may be commanded to generate the diagnosis informationthrough a mobile device 100 that will be described below.

Alternatively, the home appliance 10 may be commanded to generate thediagnosis information through the interface unit 40 of the homeappliance 10. That is, the user may input the command for the generationof the diagnosis information to the home appliance 10 through theinterface unit 40. For example, the interface unit 40 may include adiagnosis button (hereinafter, referred to as the interface unit 40 orthe diagnosis button 40). In this case, the user may push the diagnosisbutton 40 to command the home appliance 10 to generate the diagnosisinformation.

When the home appliance 10 is commanded to generate the diagnosisinformation through the communication module 30 or the interface unit40, the home appliance 10 may perform a diagnosis algorithm to generatethe diagnosis information. The controller 20 performs the diagnosisalgorithm to determine whether the current state of the home appliance10 is abnormal or not. In this case, when an error exists, thecontroller 20 identifies the error. Of course, a plurality of errors mayexist.

In the case of the washing machine, the diagnosis information mayinclude various information regarding a problem of the feed valve, aproblem of the motor that drives the drum, a problem of a drain pump,and the like.

The home appliance 10 may provide various methods of transmitting thediagnosis information to an external device. For example, the diagnosisinformation may be transmitted to the external device, for example, amobile device through the communication module 30. In this case, thediagnosis information may be transmitted to the external device in theform of a digital signal or digital code.

Alternatively, the home appliance 10 may transmit the diagnosisinformation to the external device, for example, the mobile device inthe form of an audio signal. That is, the diagnosis information may betransmitted to the mobile device through a speaker 50 in the form of theaudio signal.

Hereinafter, the mobile device 100 that is applicable to the presentembodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

The mobile device 100 may have a communication function and, forexample, may be a general cellular phone or smart phone, or a mobiledevice specifically designed for servicing home appliances.

The mobile device 100 may include a controller 200 for controlling anoperation thereof. In addition, the mobile device 100 may include acommunication module 300 for communication with external objects. Thecommunication module 300 may be used for audio communication or datacommunication and may include a plurality of communication modules inorder to provide various communication methods. Of course, thecommunication module 300 may include a communication module forcommunication with the communication module 30 of the home appliance 10.When the home appliance 10 includes the Wi-Fi communication module, itis preferable that the mobile device 100 also include a Wi-Ficommunication module.

Preferably, the mobile device 100 includes a display 400. The display400 may display various information and may include a user interface.For example, when the display 400 is a touch display, various inputs maybe input through the display 400.

The mobile device 100 may include a memory 600 for recording variousapplication programs. Of course, the memory 600 may be used to constructa database.

If necessary, the controller 200 may execute the application program toperform necessary functions and may use the various information storedin the memory 600.

Preferably, the mobile device 100 includes a microphone 500corresponding to the speaker 50 of the home appliance 10. The microphone500 may be a component for receiving an external audio signal and mayreceive an audio signal output from the speaker 50. That is, themicrophone 500 may receive the diagnosis information of the homeappliance 10 in the form of the audio signal.

Hereinafter, a method of controlling a mobile device will be describedin detail with regard to an embodiment of the present invention withreference to FIG. 3.

First, a user may execute an application program for diagnosis of a homeappliance through a mobile device (S10). The application program may beinstalled in the mobile device or may be downloaded from an externalsource through the mobile device and installed by the user.

When the mobile device is a smart phone, the user may easily install anapplication for diagnosis of the home appliance in the smart phone.

The application may perform various functions. One of the variousfunctions may be a function of diagnosing the home appliance. Thus,after the execution of the application, the user may select variousfunctions. Of course, the application may be designed only to diagnosethe home appliance. Thus, in all cases, the control method of the mobiledevice preferably includes a menu display step (S10) of displaying adiagnosis menu for the diagnosis of the home appliance.

The menu display step (S10) may be a display step for selection of theapplication for the diagnosis or may be a display step for selection ofa diagnosis mode for the diagnosis after the selection of theapplication.

An example of the menu display step (S10) is shown in FIG. 4. That is,an image displayed on a display of the mobile device is shown.

The shown image may be a main image of the mobile device or may be animage that is displayed after an application execution command is input.The user may select a smart diagnosis menu 401 for the diagnosis of thehome appliance from among various menus 401 and 402.

When the smart diagnosis menu 401 is selected, a mode display step (S20)of displaying a diagnosis mode may be performed. An example of the modedisplay step (S20) is shown in FIG. 5.

The diagnosis mode may be related to whether information is received inthe form of an audio signal or a digital signal. Here, the informationis about a current state of the home appliance or the presence of theproblem of the home appliance and is diagnosed by the home appliance.The former mode may be referred to as an audible diagnosis mode and thelatter mode may be referred to as a wireless diagnosis mode. Thus, inthe mode display step (S20), at least an audio diagnosis mode menu 404and a wireless diagnosis menu 403 are preferably displayed. FIG. 5 showsa menu for selection of a Wi-Fi diagnosis mode as an example of thewireless diagnosis mode.

In the mode display step (S20), a diagnosis history menu 405 may bedisplayed. When the diagnosis history menu 405 is selected, a diagnosishistory may be displayed as described later.

Of course, the menu display step (S10) may be replaced by the modedisplay step (S20). This is because, in the case of the application forthe diagnosis only, the diagnosis mode may be displayed just after theexecution of the application.

Hereinafter, the control method of a case in which an audio diagnosismode is selected in the mode display step (S20) will be described indetail.

When the smart diagnosis menu 401 or the audio diagnosis mode menu 404is selected, the mobile device 100 may perform an information receivingstep (S23) of receiving the diagnosis information through the microphone500. In other words, the mobile device 100 may receive the diagnosisinformation obtained by diagnosing the home appliance 10 to bediagnosed, which is performed by the home appliance 10.

Here, the diagnosis information needs to be generated by the homeappliance 10 and to be transmitted to the mobile device 100. Thus, thehome appliance 10 needs to generate the diagnosis information and thenthe generated diagnosis information needs to be transmitted to themobile device 100.

As described above, an input step (S21) may be performed through thediagnosis button 40 in order to command the home appliance 10 togenerate the diagnosis information. After the input for the generationof the diagnosis information, the home appliance 10 generates thediagnosis information and generates an audio signal through the speaker50 (S22). Accordingly, Steps S21 and S22 may not be performed by themobile device.

When the audio signal is generated from the home appliance 10, the userneeds to manipulate the mobile device to receive the audio signal. Thatis, the user needs to manipulate the mobile device to perform theinformation receiving step (S23).

To this end, the information receiving step (S23) may include a step ofdisplaying an execution menu 408 for performance of the informationreceiving step (S23). That is, the execution menu 408 may be displayedsuch that the user may command the mobile device to receive the audiosignal. FIG. 6 shows an execution menu display step.

The execution menu 408 may be a record menu. In this case, when the userpushes the execution menu 408, the mobile device receives and recordsthe audio signal that is transmitted through the microphone 500 from thespeaker 50 of the home appliance 10.

As shown in FIG. 6, the execution menu display step may include a stepof displaying progresses or a progress state of the informationreceiving step (S23). In other words, when a recording session or theprogress state is displayed, the execution menu 408 for selection of theuser may be simultaneously displayed. The recording session or theprogress state may be displayed on a separate display region 406different from the execution menu 408. That is, the separate displayregion 406 and the execution menu 408 may be distinguished from eachother.

When audio information is received, intensity of an audio signal is veryimportant. This is because it may be difficult to recognize or determinean audio signal having too small intensity. That is, it may be difficultto determine whether the audio information is the same as comparisoninformation that is subject to comparison. Of course, the reliability ofa recorded audio signal may vary according to the performance of thespeaker 50 or the microphone 500 and may also vary according to adistance between the speaker 50 and the microphone 500.

Thus, in order to increase the reliability and accuracy of a recordingoperation, a guide display step may be performed so as to inform theuser of whether an intensity of an audio signal received by the mobiledevice 100 is within an appropriate band.

The information receiving step (S23) may include the guide display step.The guide display step is shown in FIG. 6.

In detail, FIG. 6 shows an example in which the execution menu displaystep, the step of displaying progresses and a progress state of theinformation receiving step (S23), and the guide display step aresimultaneously performed. Preferably, a guide image 407 is displayed ona separate region from a region of the progress state or the executionmenu 408.

According to the guidance in the guide display step, the intensity ofthe recorded audio signal may be equal to or greater than a minimumallowable intensity. In other words, the guide display step may allowthe user to visibly recognize whether the intensity of the audio signalis within an appropriate band. To this end, in the guide display step,an amplitude of a received audio signal is preferably visibly displayed.

In the guide display step, a guide line as a reference of theappropriate band is preferably displayed. The guide line may include areference line 407 a and bandwidth lines 407 b and 407 c thatrespectively are displayed above and below the reference line 407 a. Aminimum allowable amplitude may be indicated using the bandwidth lines407 b and 407 c.

When a displayed audio signal 409 is within a bandwidth indicated by thebandwidth lines 407 b and 407 c, the intensity of the recorded audiosignal is relatively small. Thus, ideally, the user brings themicrophone 500 of the mobile device 100 closer to the speaker 50 of thehome appliance 10.

During the information receiving step (S23), the progress state may bedisplayed via variation of the recording session or color change of abar.

When the information receiving step (S23) is completely performed, astep of determining whether the information receiving step (S23) issuccessful may be performed (S24). That is, whether the intensity of therecorded audio signal is within an analyzable band. When the intensityof the recorded audio signal exceeds the analyzable band, for example,when the intensity of the audio signal is small, failure of theinformation receiving step (S23) may be displayed and a rerecordexecution menu may be displayed (S25). FIG. 8 shows an example of animage in which the recording failure is displayed and a menu 410 forreceiving information about whether rerecord is displayed.

When it is determined that the information receiving step (S23) issuccessful (S24), a step of extracting diagnosis results may beperformed (S40). That is, received information and reference informationare compared to extract the diagnosis results.

The reference information may correspond to an audio signal for a normalstate and audio signals for various abnormal states. Of course, thereference information may correspond to digital codes for the normalstate and various abnormal states. In this case, the mobile device 100may extract digital codes from the audio signal and then may compare thedigital codes with a reference digital code.

Here, the reference information may be stored in the memory 600 of themobile device 100 or may be searched for through an external database(DB). For example, the digital codes (for example, error codes)extracted from the mobile device 100 may be compared with an error codestored in an internal or external DB to extract the diagnosis resultsrespectively corresponding to the error codes.

When the diagnosis results are extracted, steps (S41 and S42) ofdisplaying the diagnosis results of the home appliance 10 on the display400 of the mobile device 100 may be performed.

In other words, the result display steps (S41 and S42) of displaying thediagnosis results of the home appliance 10 based on information receivedfrom the home appliance 10 may be performed.

The diagnosis results may correspond to information indicating that aproblem does not occur or is not detected. In addition, the diagnosisresults may correspond to information indicating that the problem iscaused by component error. Of course, a plurality of problems may bediagnosed.

When the diagnosis results are displayed, solution display steps (S41and S42) of displaying a solution based on the diagnosis results arepreferably performed. That is, preferably, measures to be taken by theuser may be suggested to the user.

This is because, in many cases, home appliance diagnosis is performedwhen the user determines that the home appliance is operating abnormallyor cannot use the home appliance. In other words, in many cases, homeappliance diagnosis is performed in order for the user to quicklyaddress the problem of the home appliance.

As the diagnosis result, when a normal state of the home appliance or noproblem is displayed, the user may still determine that the homeappliance is abnormal. In addition, an unpredicted problem may stillcontinue. Thus, in this case, a contact number of a service center ispreferably displayed.

FIG. 9 shows an example in which information 411 indicating that noproblems are detected and a contact number 412 of the service center aresimultaneously displayed. That is, the diagnosis results and solutioninformation are preferably simultaneously displayed on different regionsof the display 400.

One problem or a plurality of problems may be detected. In addition, theuser may or may not be able to address the problems.

In the case of the washing machine, for example, when water supply isnot performed, the diagnosis result may be displayed as a water supplyproblem. In this case, the user may check whether a faucet is turnedoff. Checking the faucet is a measure to be taken by the user. However,when a problem occurs in a water supply valve, the user cannot addressthe problem. Thus, even if the same problem occurs, the user may or maynot be able to address the problem.

Thus, in the solution display steps (S41 and S42), information about thecontact number of the service center is preferably displayed regardlessof the extracted diagnosis results (S41).

When the user can take measures according to the problem, the measuresto be taken by the user are preferably displayed (S42). FIGS. 11 and 12show examples in which diagnosis results corresponding to two or moreproblems are displayed and measures with respect to the problems and theinformation of the contact number of the service center are displayed.

The user may easily take measures with respect to a diagnosis resultcorresponding to a certain problem. In addition, although the user takesmeasures, when the problem continues, the user may contact the servicecenter.

Similarly, as shown in FIG. 10, when a problem that cannot be addressedby the user is displayed, the user may directly contact the servicecenter.

As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, when a plurality of problems is detected,menus 413 for selection of the various problems are preferablydisplayed. In addition, when a menu for a certain problem is selected,resolving method images, that is, solution images 412, 412 a, and 412 bcorresponding to the selected menu are preferably displayed.

In other words, the solution image 412 may include a user measure image412 a and a service center number 412 b. The user measure image 412 aand the service center number 412 b may be displayed on differentregions.

Only sequences of error results are indicated on the menus 413 shown inFIGS. 11 and 12. However, the error results may be indicated by errorcodes. When a certain error code is selected, the solution image 412 mayinclude an error type and user measures. Of course, when the user cannottake measures, the error type and the user measures may not bedisplayed.

The error code contains error information and thus the user may easilytransmit a problem to the service center based on the error code. Thatis, when the error code is transmitted to the service center, theproblem may be easily transmitted to the service center without detailedexplanation of the problem.

Thus far, the audible diagnosis mode has been described. Hereinafter,the wireless diagnosis mode will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the wireless diagnosis mode is selected in amode selection step (S20), the mobile device 100 may command the homeappliance 10 to transmit the diagnosis information to the mobile device100 (S30). When the home appliance 10 receives the command, the homeappliance 10 generates the diagnosis information and transmits thediagnosis information to the mobile device 100. In addition, the mobiledevice 100 receives the diagnosis information from the home appliance 10(S31).

That is, when the wireless diagnosis menu 403 shown in FIG. 5 is input,an image of the display 400 of the mobile device 100 may be converted asshown in FIG. 13. That is, the receiving step (S31) corresponding to theinformation receiving step (S23) may be performed through the imageshown in FIG. 13.

The wireless diagnosis mode may be performed by communication modules ofthe mobile device 100 and the home appliance 10 or may be performed bytransmitting digital signals. The digital signal may include a digitalcode or an error code. The mobile device 100 may compare the receiveddigital signals with reference information (S40).

When the receiving step (S31) is successfully completed, the resultdisplay step and the solution display step may be performed as in theabove-described audio diagnosis mode. When the receiving step (S31) isnot successfully completed, an image shown in FIG. 14 may be displayed.As shown in FIG. 14, failure of the wireless diagnosis mode may becaused by a communication problem. Thus, a retry menu together with amessage indicating that a network connection needs to be checked may bedisplayed (S414).

When the result display step and the solution display step arecompleted, a diagnosis history may be stored in the memory 600 of themobile device 100. The diagnosis history may include a diagnosis dateand a diagnosis result and may further include a diagnosis mode.

The diagnosis history may be checked via the diagnosis history menu 405shown in FIG. 5.

The wireless diagnosis mode may be simply, easily, and correctlyperformed via communication and calculation. This is because thewireless diagnosis mode may be easily performed using a user input only.On the other hand, the audio diagnosis mode requires manipulation of ahome appliance (for example, a diagnosis button input) and manipulationof mobile devices (for example, approach of a mobile terminal to thehome appliance). However, it is not necessary to install a communicationmodule in the home appliance, and thus, the home appliance may bediagnosed at relatively low cost.

As is apparent from the above description, the present inventionprovides a method of controlling a mobile terminal, for easilydiagnosing a home appliance through the mobile terminal. In addition,the present invention provides a mobile terminal for diagnosis of thehome appliance.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a mobile terminaland a method of controlling the same may easily diagnose the homeappliance even if a communication module is not installed in the homeappliance.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a mobile terminaland a method of controlling the same may diagnose a home appliance usingan audio signal and may provide a diagnostic method ensuring reliabilityand accuracy of the audio signal.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a mobile terminaland a method of controlling the same may provide different solutionswhen a user can or cannot address a problem of a home appliance toprovide a convenient diagnosis method.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the inventions. Thus, itis intended that the present invention covers the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A mobile terminal comprising: a display to displaya diagnosis menu for diagnosis of a home appliance; a firstcommunication module to communicate with a second communication moduleprovided at the home appliance and with an external server; a memory tostore application programs including an application for diagnosis of thehome appliance; and a controller connected to the display, the firstcommunication module and the memory, wherein the controller controls thedisplay such that the display displays a diagnosis result of the homeappliance and a solution based on the diagnosis result to suggest ameasure to be taken based on information about a current state of thehome appliance or presence of a problem received from the homeappliance.
 22. The mobile terminal according to claim 21, wherein thecontroller controls the display such that an execution menu forperforming the receiving of the information is displayed on the display.23. The mobile terminal according to claim 22, wherein controllercontrols the display such that the display displays progress states ofthe information being received from the home appliance when theexecution menu is selected.
 24. The mobile terminal according to claim21, further comprising a microphone to correspond with a speaker of thehome appliance, wherein the information is received by the microphone asan audio signal, and the controller controls the display such that thedisplay displays whether an intensity of the audio signal is within anappropriate band.
 25. The mobile terminal according to claim 24, whereinthe controller controls the display such that the display displays aguide line as a reference of the appropriate band and visuallydisplaying an amplitude of the audio signal on the guide line.
 26. Themobile terminal according to claim 25, wherein the guide line comprisesa reference line and bandwidth lines respectively displayed above andbelow the reference line to indicate a minimum allowable amplitude. 27.The mobile terminal according to claim 21, wherein the controllercontrols the display such that the display displays the diagnosis resultwhen a reception of the information is successfully performed, andwherein the controller controls the display such that the displaydisplays a retry menu for retrying the reception of the information whenthe information receive step is not successfully performed.
 28. Themobile terminal according to claim 21, wherein the information receivedfrom the home appliance is compared with reference information in thememory of the mobile terminal or in an external memory in the externalserver in order to extract the diagnosis result by the controller basedon the information received from the home appliance.
 29. The mobileterminal according to claim 28, wherein the controller controls thedisplay such that the diagnosis result and the solution are displayed ondifferent display regions of the display.
 30. The mobile terminalaccording to claim 29, wherein the controller controls the display suchthat a contact number of a service center is displayed on the displayregardless of the diagnosis result when the diagnosis result isdisplayed on the display.
 31. The mobile terminal according to claim 29,wherein the controller controls the display such that a problem to beaddressed by a user and a problem not to be addressed by the user areseparately displayed on the display when the home appliance has problemsbased on the diagnosis result.
 32. The mobile terminal according toclaim 29, wherein the display displays a menu for selecting a problemfrom among a plurality of problems of the home appliance as thediagnosis result, wherein the controller controls the display such thata solution corresponding to a menu corresponding to the selected problemis displayed when the menu is selected.
 33. The mobile terminalaccording to claim 32, wherein the controller controls the display suchthat a measure to be taken by a user and a contact number of a servicecenter are displayed when the problem can be addressed by the user, andthe contact number of the service center is displayed when the problemcannot to be addressed by the user.
 34. The mobile terminal according toclaim 31, wherein the first communication module is a wireless fidelity(Wi-Fi) communication module, and the information is received as adigital signal from the home appliance, or the information is receivedas an audio signal from the home appliance through a microphone.
 35. Themobile terminal according to claim 28, wherein the reference informationis received from the external server through wireless communicationbetween the first communication module and the external server.
 36. Amobile terminal comprising: a display to display a diagnosis mode on thedisplay so as to allow a user to select whether information about acurrent state of the home appliance or presence of a problem is receivedas an audio signal or as a digital signal, the information beingdiagnosed by the home appliance; a first communication module tocommunicate with a second communication module provided at the homeappliance and with an external server; a microphone to correspond with aspeaker of the home appliance; a memory to store application programsincluding an application for diagnosis of the home appliance; and acontroller connected to the display, the first communication module, themicrophone and the memory, wherein the controller controls the displaysuch that the display displays a diagnosis result of the home applianceand a solution based on the diagnosis result to suggest a measure to betaken on the display when the diagnosis mode is selected and theinformation as the audio signal or as the digital signal according tothe diagnosis mode is received from the home appliance.
 37. The mobileterminal according to claim 36, wherein the diagnosis mode comprises awireless diagnosis mode in which the information is received as adigital signal from the home appliance through the first communicationmodule, and an audio diagnosis mode in which the information is receivedas an audio signal through the microphone.
 38. The mobile terminalaccording to claim 36, wherein the information received from the homeappliance is compared with reference information in the memory of themobile terminal or in an external memory in the external server in orderto extract the diagnosis result by the controller based on theinformation received from the home appliance.
 39. The mobile terminalaccording to claim 38, wherein the reference information is receivedfrom the external server through wireless communication between thefirst communication module and the external server.